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So Overseer = her gradfather. The likehood that the Etheral Horizan = the afterworld like some have mentioned here sounds quite plausible. I first thought it would be simply across the ocean/oversea based on how she "saw" her father and thus he was watching from across the ocean (in her created reality, that is). Then again I'm very bad with metaphorical language, so I'll go along with afterworld . The balcony jump scene + the dialogue in front of her room was initated quite well and ended comically. Being a huuuuge, biased romance cliché fan, I would have loved it if Yuuta actually had caught her, but maybe that would have overdone it
It was also nice to see that Yuuta knows when DFM-mode is more useful than anything else. Fastforward to the last moment: I'll repeat the previous posters. Rikka's shout in chuunibyou-mode was well done, especially combined with the single tear running down on her wicked eye. I agree too (like so often), that her "battle phrase" with shattering reality makes now much, much more sense.

What else: Kumin looked indeed quite adorable in her white dress. And you could tell at first glance that Rikka and Touka's grandfather is of the strict generation, the whole unpleased(?) facial expression + his remark at the beginning underlined it quite well. Uhm, not much to comment on Nibutani. The sunoil comments were okay-ish. Bratomori being completely intimidated by Touka's glare/aura was nice as well.

This episode helped me narrow down the one real problem with this series: the fact that Rikka and Nibutani never interact with each other at all. Whenever they're onscreen together they never seem to acknowledge each other's existence.
It's especially egregious given that Nibutani had scenes with Rikka's family this week, but not Rikka herself. Really starting to bother me.

Actually no, it does make sense:
Rikka is, for the lack of better words, just a classmate for Shinka, and she has chuunibyou to boot, so it isn't like she would deal with her that much, although Yuuta is already taking care of her, while Sanae is always pestering her.

Meanwhile, Rikka considers her as "just a club member" who simply allowed her to keep her club on the line, due to the condition they have to meet to keep the club alive.
The fact she calls her "Nibutani" without any weird stuff, unlike "my servant" for Sanae makes her on the same rank as Kumin: she knows Shinka has no chuunibyou anymore, so not exactly tagging quite well with her antics.
But since she invited her along with Kumin and Makoto, that shows she doesn't consider them like strangers either.

This episode helped me narrow down the one real problem with this series: the fact that Rikka and Nibutani never interact with each other at all. Whenever they're onscreen together they never seem to acknowledge each other's existence.
It's especially egregious given that Nibutani had scenes with Rikka's family this week, but not Rikka herself. Really starting to bother me.

Maybe Nibutani thinks that it's better to leave Rikka in Yuuta's "care" as he knows how to deal/interact with her. And I can't see her switching to Mori Summer when "normal" words show no effect Or she's just too occupied to fend off Dekomori
Other than these guesses, you are right. There haven't been any real trigger events (yet?).

Meanwhile, Rikka considers her as "just a club member" who simply allowed her to keep her club on the line, due to the condition they have to meet to keep the club alive.

To clarify, my issue is that they don't even interact on the level of club members. They have never had an onscreen conversation at all; hell, Rikka didn't even make a shirt for her.
While their not spending much time together makes sense, it seems to me that the writers simply have no idea how the two of them would hold even the barest minimum of conversation... if anything, that could have been something to spend a Lite episode on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klashikari

But since she invited her along with Kumin and Makoto, that shows she doesn't consider them like strangers either.

Well, that brings up another (more easily justifiable) issue: why invite them along on the trip if she was just going to mope in her room most of the time?

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Last edited by CrowKenobi; 2012-11-16 at 21:41.
Reason: Novel info doesn't belong in this thread.

Well, that brings up another (more easily justifiable) issue: why invite them along on the trip if she was just going to mope in her room most of the time?

Because with so many friends it would be harder for gramps to start yelling or talking Rikka down all the time, as it stands in the anime, it is "She still is playing pirate, but look at all the friends she has made in so little time". Japan is not a very open society lick latin america where for school age kids it is relatively easy to do friends, and gramps so far ha seen no reason her friends are weirdos.

The drama is executed well. Not surpraise here, given the studio history. The camera angle, composition, music, etc. really enhance the scenes. Rikka shouting her lines in the last scene is powerful (and a little embrassing as usual). It kept me rooted to the seat. The sparkle behind Yuuta and Rikka on their way to Rikka's old house is beautiful. BGM suddenly fade out when she see the "for sale" sign is perfect. And so on.

I'm not quite sure yet about the story itself though. My understanding is that Tooka want Rikka to accept her father's death, hence trying to get her to the grave. Rikka, however, refuse to accept that. She wants to go to the old home to see her dad. Now the strange thing is why Tooka went through such great lenght preventing her to do so. Wouldn't that be the right thing to do to let her see reality? The only explanation I can think of is that Tooka is willing to bring her sister there, but she is too afraid to let Rikka go by herself. Rikka, on the other hand, think that Tooka doesn't believe her story and she is interfering with her power to reach beyond the horizon. So she refuse to go with Tooka. And hence the tension between the sisters. If that is all there is to it, then I think it's a little weak. It's quite hard to believe that they're in that deadlock for this long.

But enough about that. The romance is finally in high gear, and I for one happy about that. Yuuta is just what Rikka needs--someone who will listen to her story and know how to play along with it. His shifting between DFM and "normal" Yuuta shows just that.

PS. Rikka slipping off her (pretend) character is so cute that she should get a term coined for her already. Like a "chuu-dere" or something.

A good episode, but I agree that the story still needs to be clarified. I was a little surprised that an actual death was involved, and Rikka's mother's behavior seems inconsistent with her memories of her family when her father was still alive. But the Yuuta and Rikka interactions were strong enough to carry the episode.

I’ve always felt that there was an impulse here to try and look at the phenomenon of chuunibyou if not seriously than at least wistfully, but it was being undercut by the comedy (which was mostly working, thankfully). Now we’ve got the facts laid out on the table it seems we may be headed for that sort of examination after all, because the merits of escapism are squarely at the center of where the show is now.

The opposing camps have staked out their positions pretty clearly. Touka and Grandpa are squarely in the “face reality” camp, believing that no matter how painful, life must be faced head-on before we can move on. Rikka (and Dekomori, though I consider her largely a comic device just as Isshiki is) has chosen to live her life in an alternate reality (“Break reality! Open the synapse!”) to avoid facing what’s undeniably a very painful reality. And squarely in the middle, just as a main character should be, is Yuuta. He has a chuunibyou past to rival anyone’s, and he’s chosen to abandon it for reasons entirely more shallow than what Touka has in mind. He also has a loving family that’s intact (even if Dad is in Jakarta on business) and nominally has no good reason to live in a fantasy world of his or anyone else’s making. It seems as if Yuuta is going to be the pivot point around which this conflict gets resolved, and it’ll be very interesting to see which side the author (and the adaptation) comes down on. Perhaps a measure of both - an acceptance that we weren’t given minds capable of flights of fancy just so we would stay grounded all the time, but that sooner or later all of us have to land.

It was a very good episode but I didn't exactly find it as impressive as I did some of the earlier episodes. It felt a bit off watching the rest of the group then jumping around with Yuuta, Rikka and Touka. I think this episode could have been better with its presentation.

Mad respects for Touka though. It can't be easy to deal with Rikka with her family situation as it is.

To clarify, my issue is that they don't even interact on the level of club members. They have never had an onscreen conversation at all; hell, Rikka didn't even make a shirt for her.
While their not spending much time together makes sense, it seems to me that the writers simply have no idea how the two of them would hold even the barest minimum of conversation... if anything, that could have been something to spend a Lite episode on.

Well, that brings up another (more easily justifiable) issue: why invite them along on the trip if she was just going to mope in her room most of the time?

The show had given many signs that she was jealous of Shinka, or at least of how fond Yuuta seemed to be of her. All those small changes to her facial expression when Yuuta shifted attention to Shinka and her explicitly hitting him or pulling him away when he looked at Shinka in potentially "interesting" ways had to be for something. I don't think Shinka has a problem with Rikka but Rikka definitely was a bit wary of her and given that she already has communication issues, that slight reason is enough for her to hold out entirely imo.

A good episode, but I agree that the story still needs to be clarified. I was a little surprised that an actual death was involved, and Rikka's mother's behavior seems inconsistent with her memories of her family when her father was still alive. But the Yuuta and Rikka interactions were strong enough to carry the episode.

I actually not that surprise at the part about their mother. After a while, I think the Takanashi couple might be a role switching of

Spoiler for CLANNAD AF spoiler:

Tomoya and Nagisa. Precisely because they were a very loving husband and wife that the lost of the other was too hard to bare. The mother did exactly the same thing Tomoya did--left the children in the grandparents' care.

The reason she has never showed up might be the same as well. Her children kept reminding her of her husband. She simply think that she is incapable of raising them in her state of mind, so she left them to someone else. I'm not saying that was the right thing to do. In fact, I would say that was totally wrong, but her decision does make some senses.

Pretty good episode. We not only get to see swimsuits, but also important background information.
Rika really has had it tough. First her mother abandons her and her sister, then her father dies, her grandfather doesn't accept her... and she's regularly ladled by her big sister. While Toka does seem to look out for Rikka, she sometimes seems to be somewhat reluctant there, and at times she's unneccessarily rough and violent.

Anyway, Rikka deserves a medal for going through all that and not going completely bonkers.

The world is so cruel *cries*
I didn't expected that as well.. But if they'll make a morale like "If somebody close to you is dead, you need to resign oneself" and stuff, I'll be very disappointed.
This episode showing us a real Rikka's face, and the same way about her sister.
One more time, I didn't expected that.. I hope, anime won't develop only in this way..

I actually not that surprise at the part about their mother. After a while, I think the Takanashi couple might be a role switching of

Spoiler for CLANNAD AF spoiler:

Tomoya and Nagisa. Precisely because they were a very loving husband and wife that the lost of the other was too hard to bare. The mother did exactly the same thing Tomoya did--left the children in the grandparents' care.

The reason she has never showed up might be the same as well. Her children kept reminding her of her husband. She simply think that she is incapable of raising them in her state of mind, so she left them to someone else. I'm not saying that was the right thing to do. In fact, I would say that was totally wrong, but her decision does make some senses.

The comparison is apt, but I don't find the emotional registers plausible, which was the same problem I had with clannad. A mother who misses her husband is far more apt to cling to her children as a memory of their father than abandon them. My problem with this plot device isn't so much that the mother's behavior is bad, but that it isn't plausible. I still think a nasty divorce would have made more sense (or, most plausibly, both parents dying in something like a freak car accident), but like I said, the Rikka-Yuuta interaction still made the episode enjoyable to me.